


Token of a Sweet Beginning

by Fiercest



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Angst, F/M, Married Couple, Secret Marriage, Secret Relationship, Wedding Rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:20:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24796084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiercest/pseuds/Fiercest
Summary: Roy has successfully circulated the theory that she was secretly married once, without it getting back to her. This is widely considered the most farfetched rumor.(Or, Roy and Riza have been married the whole time)
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric, Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Comments: 7
Kudos: 168





	Token of a Sweet Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> You have no proof that they _haven't_ been married the whole time. That's all I'm saying. 
> 
> I wrote this years ago but I guess I forgot to post it. Enjoy :)

Riza makes few concessions to femininity while on duty. She wears no makeup and chooses to wear uniform pants instead of the knee length skirt many of her peers prefer. She has long, shiny hair but ties it back in a severe coil. Her ears are pierced but the studs are utilitarian steel.

She’s terribly mysterious and quiet. There aren’t many people who can claim they know a single personal thing about her.

Riza, though usually well-kept and properly decked out in her dress blues, cannot be a paragon of military excellence at all times. Occasionally she is forced to forgo her jacket, and it is only then that something completely at odds with her persona becomes apparent.

She wears a gold chain around her neck. Its links are thicker than a traditionally feminine aesthetic, but it is intricate and handmade, with care. Like an amulet hangs a ring, small and golden. Its band is wide and etchings can be seen but not identified. Who would dare get close enough?

If one were particularly curious or brave enough to ask, and few are, they might receive a perfunctory answer as to its origins. “I’ve had it for many years,” she’ll say.

It’s a man’s band and there are some who know that Bertoldt Hawkeye has been dead _for many years_. The obvious assumption is that it’s his.

But bored soldiers make the best gossips.

There have been many outlandish claims and theories: it’s a trophy from her first kill, winnings from a gamble on her sharpshooting, a token from a dead sweetheart—lost to war.

Riza dignifies none of them, but Roy has successfully circulated the theory that she was secretly married once, without it getting back to her. This is widely considered the most farfetched rumor.

.

.

Edward and Alphonse do a lot of travelling. It gets a little boring sometimes, especially because they can’t take more than a couple books on the road, certainly not enough to last even a single train trip- even if they swapped!

Luckily, the Elric Brothers are the sort of people who, despite knowing each other all their lives, never run out of things to talk about. They yell jokes, play games and reminisce. One of their favourite pastimes is finding riddles for each other. Or asking questions, seemingly without answers.

One morning on the way to Central from another repair trip, Ed asks Al, “Have you ever noticed that the Colonel is literally always wearing gloves?”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Al protests, “No one wears gloves all the time, that’s unhygienic.”

“What would you know about hygiene?”

“ _Brother!_ I _read!”_

“No but really, think about it for a second.”

“My gosh, you’re right!” Al practically quivers. “What do you think he’s hiding?”

“Maybe they’re all wrinkled and spotty, like an old man’s,” Ed practically cackles. “Or maybe they’re actually super tiny baby hands and he stuffs his gloves!”

Ed is too busy with his new Dream Scenario to hear Al’s protests that that doesn’t make any sense.

“Seriously though,” Al brings it up again, a day later, on another train. “What do you think he’s hiding?”

“I dunno Al,” Ed knocks his fist against his brother’s armored chest absently. His gloves are his main weapon… “Maybe he just doesn’t like being vulnerable.”

.

.

Stabbed through both hands, bleeding and desperate to survive, Roy removes his gloves. He carves an array into the back of his hand. The part of him that is ruthlessly practical and unsentimental wonders why he never thought to do this in the first place. He would never be without a weapon, he would be safe, always. He could protect: always.

Later he’ll remember himself. He’ll regret it a little. He has given himself a terrible gift, whereas once he hoped for a day when he would never have to snap his fingers again.

Now he holds his hand above his head and lights a fire over and over again, burning Lust to a crisp; right before his subordinates eyes.

Hours later, it’s all over.

He holds his now scarred hand to his chest, pressed against his heart. A gold band gleams on his pinky.

His lieutenant sits beside him quietly. She lays her hand over his. The clamminess recedes. His hand grows warm.

.

.

When he thinks about his past, he thinks about her and the few happy days before. When he thinks about his future, he yearns for her and hopes for happy days still to come.

For now, he spends his life working two feet away from the love of his life, not quite close enough to touch.

And for now, it must be enough.


End file.
